Foreshadowing a Life
by Animus et Anima
Summary: This is about the first person Booth helps after he returns back from war. She doesn't want his help even though she has some troubles, but he's determined to get her to listen. Can he achieve his goal and make her listen to reason in 5 days?
1. Coming to Visit

**Okay, so general stuff. I don't own Bones or anything from the show. Everything else came from my imagination. This goes throughout the story, so it will not be repeated, mostly because I'll forget... Anyway, enjoy!**

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1995_**

Master Sergeant Seeley Booth was finally on a plane home. He was thrilled to be going back to the states; five years away was way, way too long to be away. But Booth had done what his country had asked him to, and he had been one of the best snipers (well, that's what his instructors and superiors kept telling him and you don't argue when someone, especially a superior, compliments you). Then again, that meant he had killed people. People that God had placed on this earth; people that had families; people with lives. There were forty-nine people that he had watched fall to his bullet. Booth had given it a lot of thought, and he had decided that the best way to make up for the lives he had ended was to catch those who had murdered others. He had known since he was kid that he wanted to go into law enforcement, and this way, his cosmic balance list would eventually even out- he hoped.

Booth watched as his plane landed in Chicago. He had decided to spend some time with his cousin, since Pops and Jared had gone on vacation. They had planned it before knowing when Booth was going to get home; of course, Pops had offered to change their plans, but the sniper decided that he could catch up with some other family before heading back to Philadelphia. Needless to say, his aunt and uncle were then both forced to go on business trips after they agreed to let him come. They had tried to get out of them, but apparently both of their bosses were stubborn, though. Anyway, Booth was going to be spending one-on-one time with his little cousin, Jett. Booth hadn't seen the kid since he was five, and kinda missed the boy. He couldn't believe that his little cousin was eleven.

As Booth got off the plane, he grabbed his carry on; it was really the only thing he brought back. He walked from his terminal to the baggage claim. He thought his aunt, uncle, and Jett were going to be picking him up. He looked around for his family. Finally, he caught sight of his uncle. A six foot six man is usually pretty easy to spot, though. His uncle, Elliot, had light brown buzz cut and green eyes. He had a thinner build than Booth, and had those thick glasses. Booth knew his uncle was a scientist of sort; he was always squinting at things. He was a squint. Booth let a small laugh out at his new term. His aunt, Tia, Booth's mom's sister, was about a foot shorter than her husband. She was a petite woman with curly, shoulder length, dark hair and hazel eyes. She was a teacher at a local high school; she taught psychology. And then there was the eleven year old Jett who was a blend of his parents. He had his father's green eyes, but with his mother's hair (only it was short, just not a buzz cut).

"Aunt Tia, Uncle Elliot" the ranger called out to his family. Of course, the adults were oblivious to their names, but the eleven year old turned to see his cousin.

"Mom, Dad, there's Seeley!" Jett began to jog over to his cousin.

"Hey, Jett," Seeley greeted him. "How've you been? Enjoying your summer?"

"I'm good. And I've got the most awesome babysitter for the summer! Her name is Mattie. She's been taking me to the park every day. And she's even shown what the inside of a frog looks like. It was so awesome! And she makes really good Mac-and-cheese. Oh and-"

"Jett, take a breath," his mom instructed with a laugh. "How have you been, Seeley?"

"Good. Happy to make it back in one piece."

"We're all happy about that. Hank and Jared have been really worried about you. Especially, when you didn't right to them for those five months."

"Yeah, I got really busy. I wrote them as soon as I could," Booth lied. He had been captured and tortured; his feet and back still hurt from the event, but he really didn't want his family to know or worry about it.

"You know, we were surprised when you told us you were going to come here," Elliot informed Seeley after a moment of silence.

"Yeah, well, with Pops and Jared out of Philly, I thought I'd come see you guys. I wish you guys didn't have business trips this week."

"Well, it helps us. We had been worried about what to do with Jett."

"Well, I'll look after him. Though, he might want to hang out with his babysitter, by the sound of it."

"Hey, Mattie is really cool! You'd like her a lot, Seeley! She has blonde hair and dark brown eyes..." the kid chattered on. Eventually, all those over the age of twelve stopped listening to the rambling and started their own conversation.

"Seeley, I know that you want to spend a lot of time with Jett, but we didn't want to burden you. We asked Mattie Johnston to watch him during the day so that you could have some time to do whatever you want. She's use to watching him until late at night, so you don't have to worry about anything."

"Oh, well, uh, I was kinda looking forward to hanging out with Jett."

"Mattie won't mind if you're hanging out. Or I'm sure that she'd like sometime to hang out with her friends."

"Mattie doesn't know anyone here," Jett informed the adults who all just looked at him to continue. "She moved here like a week before she started babysitting me. She told me a lot of people at her school didn't like her much because she was so smart."

"Poor girl," Tia said with sadness evident in her voice. "She seems like such a sweet girl."

"A sweet girl who dissects a frog for your son?" Booth didn't think those two things went together particularly well.

"She's got Jett more into science in the past month than I ever have. And I've been trying to convince him since he was old enough to talk." Elliot let a small smile out. Booth could tell that his uncle respected the girl.

"Well, if she doesn't mind me hanging out for the few days, then I guess I don't have a problem with her being around. Especially if she's as cool as Jett's made her out to be," Booth answered, winking at his cousin.

"She's even cooler!" Jett began. The way back to the house, Jett rambled nonstop about his babysitter. Booth eventually tuned him out, and just kept nodding as if he understood. If nothing else, his cousin had peaked his interest about this girl, though.


	2. Meeting Mattie Johnston

"_Parker, are you out there?" Booth half whispered into the unknown. Booth's team had been ambushed and most people got away, but the corporal was left behind. Booth had quickly turned around when he realized the kid wasn't with everyone. The kid might not have been the best soldier Booth had ever worked with, but he also had a lot of heart (and mouth). "Teddy Parker!" Booth heard a low moan. He dashed towards that direction. "Parker, that you?"_

"_Hey, Booth," he barely said, as Booth began to uncover his comrade from the leaves surrounding him. _

"_Happy to see you alive."_

"_I think you just barely caught me in time."_

"_Well, then, let's get you back to camp." Booth helped Teddy up, only to have the kid begin to stumble. Booth caught him, and began supporting him._

"_Thanks."_

"_Come on, Teddy. We're almost back to camp," Booth egged on. Teddy was getting weaker with each step, and Booth had to drag him along a lot more. _

"_Booth, tell my girl that I love her."_

"_Come on, Parker; you can tell her yourself." Suddenly the sound of bullets surrounded them. Booth looked around, but couldn't find the source. But the sound just kept coming and coming…_

Booth sat up, a cold sweat covering his body. Another freaking flashback, just what he needed. But what was with the invisible bullets in his dreams? He had been having dreams like this since he found out he was coming home, but the bullets were definitely a new addition to the memory. Then Booth realized the mystery bullets were coming from the front door. Being in the room closest to the door, he could hear the knocks echoing through house off the front door better than Jett probably could.

He rolled out of bed and ran a hand through his hair. He looked at the clock as he passed it. 7:55. He didn't know who would be at the door at eight in the morning. He opened the door to see a girl; he guessed around seventeen or eighteen. She was really thin, verging on sickly. And she had a square jaw line, and fierce, chocolate brown eyes. Her dirty blonde hair was short, barely to her shoulder, but of what hung was completely straight. She was wearing a purple Northwestern t-shirt that looked to be about a size bigger than necessary, and black shorts that looked like they had been worn for a couple of summers. She also had a jean jacket on, which Booth found odd since it was already about seventy- five degrees out. And she was kinda red, like she was pretty sun burn (and he might have been imagining it, but she looked a little redder in the face).

"Can I help you?" Booth asked.

"I'm Mattie Johnston, Jett's babysitter. Who are you?"

"Uh, Seeley Booth. Jett's cousin. I'm staying here until Friday." The look of confusion on the girl's face didn't change. "Elliot and Tia forget to mention that to you?" The girl nodded. "Well, I guess you should come in."

Once the girl and Booth were inside, the girl headed towards the kitchen. Booth was amazed that she didn't even really acknowledge him, but brushed past him like no one was there. In high school, most girls were a little smitten with him; he wasn't use to being completely blown off. When she was in the kitchen, she pulled out a coffee packet that looked like one you'd find in a hotel room, and began preparing it.

"Do you want something to drink?" Mattie offered. Booth looked up out of shock.

"Shouldn't I be offering you something to drink?"

"Why would you offer after I did?" the girl asked completely serious.

"I meant, shouldn't I be offering you something instead of the other way around?"

"I don't see why. I'm probably more familiar with the kitchen than you." Booth opened his mouth to argue, but was interrupted by a small, tired voice.

"Hi, Mattie."

"Good morning, Jett."

"Can I have some apple juice?"

"May you have some apple juice," she corrected. "And yes."

She quickly pulled out a plastic, blue cup and the juice and poured it for him. She handed it to the boy who gulped in down in a matter of seconds.

"While you get dressed, I'll get your pop tarts and more juice." The boy nodded and ran towards his room, and the babysitter turned and filled his cup up again. She reached up for a plate for Jett, and turned back to the Booth. "Do you want pop tarts, as well?"

"Uh, no. I'm good. Do you need help? I'm just sitting here watching you."

"I can handle it," she replied, pulling down a plate that matched Jett's cup. She placed a pop tart in the toaster, and placed the other in a plastic bag.

"So, Mattie, tell me about yourself. Jett said you were new to the area; where'd you live before?"

"I've in several different towns surrounding Chicago." A moment of silence passed before Booth tried again.

"What year are you going into?"

"I just graduated from high school, and will start at Northwestern in September."

"That's a good school. What'd you studying?"

"I'm not positive. I'm going to take several courses in different areas before deciding. Though most-likely something in the college of science."

"Just what I need: more squints," Booth muttered. He hated science since he was a kid, and the fact that his uncle was a squint was more than enough for him.

"What?"

"Nothing," Booth said louder. Mattie gave him a stare that showed that she didn't believe him, but the pop tart popped out of the toaster forcing her to break the glare. She placed it on the plate.

"Jett! Are you dressed?" Mattie called out. The little boy came out of his room.

"Yep!" Jett sat down and began eating his breakfast.

"Hey, Jett, what do you say to Mattie for fixing you breakfast?" Booth asked.

"Fank cu, Mattie," he said with his mouthful of pop tart.

"You're welcome."

Mattie and Booth just sat there watching Jett eat. No one knew what to say, until:

"So, what do you want to do today?" Mattie asked.

"Can we go to the park?" Jett asked excitedly.

"Sure. We can go as soon as you finish your breakfast and brush your teeth." The boy began to stuff the rest of the pop tart down his mouth.

"Hey, slow down, bub. The park isn't going anywhere." The boy kept on gobbling the frosted covered food down his throat. With one huge swallow, Jett finished his breakfast.

"Seeley, will you play football with me?"

"If Mattie doesn't mind me going with you all," he answered, proceeding to use his most charming smile on the babysitter. She however just rolled her eyes.

"I'm not going to stop you from going, Seeley."

"Yay!" Jett practically screamed as he stood up and ran into the bathroom. Once he was in the bathroom, Booth turned to the seventeen year old girl.

"Please, don't call me Seeley." The girl looked up at him.

"What do you want me to call you?"

"I don't care, just not Seeley."

"What do your friends call you?"

"Booth or Serge. Please, don't call me Serge either though."

"Why did they call you Serge?"

"It was my rank."

"Where you in the Army or Navy?"

"Army. I'm no squid."

"Clearly. You're human being." Her face was completely straight.

"Squid's a nickname for marines." Her mouth made an O-shape. For being so smart, she was sure lacking some common knowledge.

"Very well, then, Booth." They both had a feeling that the next few days would go pretty well.


	3. What She Is

**So, I'm sorry this chapter is a little shorter than the past two have been. But as a way to try to buy your forgiveness, I'll post the next chapter tomorrow. :)**

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An hour later, Booth, Mattie, and Jett reached the neighborhood park. Booth had been expecting maybe a swing set and slide with a place to play catch, but this park was massive. The play structure was bigger than some of the houses he had seen during the war. And there were at least a dozen swings scattered around the massive structure, plus a large picnic area nearby with a field that was at least four times bigger than a football field. And don't forget the half a dozen basketball courts.

"Wow… Nice park."

"Isn't it awesome?" Jett asked. Booth just nodded. He would have killed to have a park like this when he was a kid.

"So, can I go play on the slides?" Jett asked. Mattie nodded, but Booth looked like a kid whose favor toy had been taken.

"I thought you wanted to toss the ole pig skin around," Booth answered tossing the football up in the air and catching it as it fell.

"We can later, Seeley," the little boy said before running to the latter for the slide.

Mattie and Booth quickly found a table near the playground, and began to watch the eleven year old goof around with another little boy. Booth looked over at Mattie after about ten minutes of silence. He noticed that she had yet to take off the jean jacket, which was weird because it had to be at least eighty degrees by now. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and was comfortable, but he had been serving in the dessert for the past four years. He doubted Mattie, the girl who had only lived around Chicago, had spent time much time in the heat.

"Getting hot over there?"

"What?" Mattie asked, apparently coming out of her own little world.

"I asked if you were getting hot. It's like eighty degrees out here, and you're wearing a jean jacket."

"I have a high tolerance for the heat." Booth immediately knew the girl was lying, and it wasn't from the beads of sweat running down her face. He hoped this girl never had to lie for her life; she might not make it out alive.

"Right." The word was drawn out, just to show how much he believed her. She was apparently oblivious to the sarcasm oozing from his voice, however.

Again, the two set in silence watching the little boy. Booth's eyes might not have left Jett, but his mind was focused on the secretive girl sitting a little over a foot away from him. He knew that he had only known her for a couple of hours, but there was something familiar about her. He felt like there was similarities between them, but he didn't have a clue what they were. Yeah, they both had brown eyes and were fairly tall, but he thought it was something deeper. _Maybe I'm just imagining things,_ he told himself.

"So, what's your family like?" Booth tried to start again. Mattie's eyes shot towards Booth for a moment, and then returned to Jett.

"I don't have one."

"What? Come on, you have to have had parents."

"My parents died."

"I'm sorry; I didn't know," he suddenly felt guilty for even bringing it up.

"There's no reason for you to. You had no way of knowing. Jett doesn't even know what I am."

"What you are?" Booth hadn't noticed anything unusual about Mattie's appearance- save the jacket.

"A foster kid."

"That's not who you are," Booth said automatically. Mattie's brown eyes focused on him.

"You don't know anything about me."

"Maybe not much, but enough to know that you aren't just some kid who's going to take whatever life throws at them. You worked your ass off in school enough to get a full ride to Northwestern. I doubt that you leave everything up to fate."

"I don't believe in fate." Booth rolled his eyes at her comment.

"My point is you aren't ever just one thing. So yeah, you might be a foster kid, but that's only until you turn eighteen, and then no one will know or care. But you'll always be a smart girl with focus and determination. And _that_ is what will define you." Brown collided with brown as the two people stared into each other's eyes. They weren't really sure how long they just sat there looking into the others eyes, but they knew how it broke.

"Mattie! Seeley!" Jett cried from the playground. Both of them turned to look at the boy. "Will someone come push me on the swing?"

"Sure, bub. I'm coming." Booth got up from the bench and headed towards the swing. About three steps from the table, he turned back to the teenage girl. "Think about what I said, Mattie."

Booth knew Mattie's eyes were focused on him, and that he had given the scholarly girl something to think about. _Imagine that. The jock gave the squint something to think about. That can't happen too often_, Booth though smugly, as he went to push Jett on the swing.


	4. Searching

After pushing the eleven year old on the swing for about fifteen minutes, Booth was able to convince Jett to go play some football. They were able to find a clear area a few yards away from where Mattie was sitting to throw the ball around.

"Okay, Jett, any rules you want to lay?"

"Nope."

"Okay, well, how about two- hand touch at least?" Booth supplied. He was pretty sure that his aunt and uncle would be pissed if he squashed the eleven year old.

"Fine, and while we're at it, do you want me to spot you a few touchdowns?" The innocence was definitely feigned.

"Nah, I don't want to beat you too badly." The cousins were giving each other identical, smug grins.

With that their one-on-one game began. Booth held back most of his talent from the game, giving the boy a fighting chance. Half the time, the soldier wasn't even paying attention to the game; he was too preoccupied with trying to figure out the babysitter that was sitting nearby. He knew she was keeping something from him. _And why wouldn't she?_ He mentally pointed out to himself. _She's just my cousin's babysitter who I've only known for a couple hours; why do I care so much?_ Then a small voice answered the question for him. _Because she could be number one on your cosmic list._ Booth was brought back into reality with Jett boasting about the touchdown Booth had been oblivious to.

The game continued for another thirty minutes or so, Booth making sure to keep the score about even. He and Jett were about to start another round, when Jett froze. He was looking at an empty park bench.

"Where'd Mattie go, Seel?" Booth realized the bench his cousin was looking at was the one that the babysitter had been sitting at all morning.

"I don't know. You want to go look for her?" Jett's head suddenly reminded Booth of a bobble head moving up and down.

Booth headed towards the bathroom complex he thought he saw as they entered the park, and Jett was right on his tail. Once they arrived they waited about five minutes before a woman, Booth guessed around forty, with dark hair, eyes, and skin wondered towards the bathroom with her daughter.

"Excuse me," Booth stopped her. "My, uh, friend might have gone into the bathroom. Could you check for us?"

"Sure, Cherie. What's her name?"

"Mattie Johnston," Jett answered. The woman entered, and returned a few minutes later.

"Sorry, but your girlfriend isn't in there."

"She's not my girlfriend," both cousins answered, before looking at the other oddly. The woman let out a small laugh, while her girl who was around seven or eight, looked at the two skeptically.

"Right… If you need help, Cherie, we'll be here for another hour or so."

"Thanks," Booth answered, still looking at his cousin. The mother and daughter walked away, leaving a smirking sniper and awkward boy. The moment they were out of earshot, Booth had to ask, "So, you like Mattie, huh, Jett?"

"No! Girls are annoying and like to play with dolls and wear makeup and-"

"But who can resist an older woman who doesn't mind getting dirty to make you happy?" Booth prodded, a knowing smirk plastered on his face, at least until he realized how that could be taken the wrong way.

"Mattie is pretty cool. And really pretty- Hey! That's not nice to do, Seeley!"

"Look at that, bub. You have a crush on your babysitter."

"Can we just go find her?" Jett said pulling his laughing cousin by the hand. They looked for about ten more minutes; and each minute that passed made Booth worry. He was worried that she had been kidnapped; she wouldn't run away from Jett. She cared about the kid. And she seemed to be looking forward to starting school in a few months- something Booth would never understand, so there was no reason to flee. Then a sound barely hit Booth's ears.

"Jett! Jett, where are you? This isn't funny! Booth!" The man grabbed Jett's hand and followed the voice. The noise until it led it right back to the open field they had been playing football in; standing in the middle of the open area, was a very worried Mattie. The moment her eyes met Booth's, she ran over to them, first hugging Jett (leaving him a bright red color) and then Booth. She released Booth after several seconds, before her relief- filled face turned to one of anguish. "Where did you guys go? I thought you abandoned me here!"

"What? No, we noticed you weren't on the bench, so we went looking for you."

"I didn't think you'd notice if I went to get you water. It's rather warm out here." Booth noticed despite her words, she was still wearing her jacket. "When I came back you were gone. I thought you forgot about me." Booth sensed more trouble behind the words then there should have been, and made a mental note to ask her about it later.

"We wouldn't do that. I don't think that Jett would let that every happen, anyway." When her face didn't improve, Booth added, "And neither would I. You're memorable, Mattie. No one will forget you."

Her face still remained in the same position. Booth reached around her upper body and gave her another hug, and, to his surprise, her arms immediately flew around his neck.

"Thank you." Booth almost didn't hear it, she said it so quietly. He gave a small squeeze to assure her.

"Cherie," the voice made Booth and Mattie both jump out of each other's arms. "Is this your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend."

"They aren't dating." All three spoke simultaneously.

"Good, because I was wondering if it was legal."

"I'm seventeen; it would be legal, but that doesn't matter because we aren't dating."

"Yeah, we're just friends. Right?" Booth asked; it was more directed towards Mattie.

"Right," two voices answered. One from the older woman which sounded skeptical, while the other came from the babysitter who agreed that in a matter of hours, Booth had made a new friend in a smart, seventeen year old foster kid.

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**So, any thoughts you want to share? And predictions or ID's you want to guess? If you answer yes, click the button below. :)**


	5. Lunch n' Movies

**I want to thank you guys for all the reviews! You guys are awesome.**

**And I should also add that I do not own the movies The Mask or Hook in addition to not owning Bones, just using them as details. **

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Jett, Mattie, and Booth returned to the house, not wanting to have another separation scare at the park, or anything like it. The moment they entered the house, all three members went separate directions. Jett went to the den and turned on the television to Rugrats; Mattie went to the kitchen and began to fix three burgers and some fries; Booth went to the bathroom to take a quick shower. When he came out, he slid on a pair of jeans and a green Army shirt before joining Jett and Mattie.

He found them still performing the tasks they had started before he entered the bathroom. He quickly weighed the two activities and found his way into the kitchen. Mattie had the table set, and was finishing the three burgers. "Need help?" Booth offered.

"No." She reached into the oven and pulled out the fries. "I'm use to fixing meals by myself. I can handle this."

"Doesn't mean I'm not willing to help," he said putting on his best charm smile. He noticed that she smiled right back. It was the first time he had seen her smile. It was a little crooked, but still pretty.

"Unfortunately for whatever cooking abilities you possess, lunch is already done," she replied. She proceeded to then call out, "Jett, lunch!"

The boy came hopping into the room, and grabbed his burgers and fries and sat down. Booth indicated that Mattie should go next, and she nodded out of thanks and retrieved her food. Booth took the last burger and remaining fries. The lunch was quiet; it was clear that no one knew what should be discussed. Within ten minutes, Jett was done with his food and back in front of the T.V. Leaving Booth and Mattie sitting in at the table.

"So, I what are your plans after you leave?" the teenager asked.

"Huh?"

"I assume that now your tour is over you're planning on finding a job in the country. Or are you planning to attend college?"

"Oh. No, I'm done with school; I get it's your thing in all, but I never really like any part of it- except the sports. But, uh, I leave Friday and going home for a week, then I'm gonna head to Vegas for a week. I might to head to the capitol after that. Try and get a job working for the FBI."

"The FBI? You're going into law enforcement?"

"Oh yeah. I like helping people, and it would put my army training into good use."

"That's a noble thing to do." Booth nodded at the comment. There was a comfortable silence that filled the room. Booth noticed that for some reason, she was still wearing that freaking jean jacket! Finally he couldn't help but ask.

"Okay, Mattie, why are you still wearing that jacket? It's like eighty- five degrees outside. I've spent the past few years in the desert and I wouldn't put a jacket on right now. _And_ you were sweating earlier, and didn't take it off."

"It's nothing, Booth, don't worry about it."

"That's just making it _more_ suspicious. So, do you want to tell me what's going on?"

"You have no right to ask these questions of me. You hardly know me." Her voice had an icy tone building.

"Which is more than I did this morning." She gave him a look that indicated that he should drop it, so he did. Mattie began to clear the table, but Booth stood up before she could pick up her own plate. He snatched the plate from under her hand, and picked up his and Jett's platter and went towards the kitchen sink.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm cleaning up after lunch."

"Why?"

"Because the general rule at my house growing- up was whoever didn't cook, cleaned up. I didn't cook; therefore I should clean-up." Mattie gave an understanding nod, but grabbed the ketchup and mustard and moved towards the refrigerator. "You didn't hear a word I just said, did you?"

"No, I heard you; but I thought it would be faster if we both cleaned up."

"Mattie, go sit down and watch TV with Jett, and I'll do the dishes and then we can watch a movie or something. I think Jett has The Mask playing. I know you've probably seen it a million and a half times-"

"I have no idea what you're talking about it."

"The Mask… the movie that came out last year."

"I was a little preoccupied with school, Booth. I don't watch television or many movies."

"Come on, I was in the Army and even heard of it! You've had to, at least, heard of it." Mattie shook her head. "Starring Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz."

"I assume those people are actors." Booth let out a sigh. He grabbed the items in her hand.

"You. Go sit down and watch the movie," he ordered. Mattie rose to her full height and Booth did the same. Booth couldn't figure out why she would be arguing with him about this. It's not like he was asking her to shot someone- though for all he knew, she'd relish the opportunity.

After a moment of intense eye contact between the two brown eyed people, the blonde one of the two sighed in defeat and went to join Jett in front of the television. Booth smirked and wondered how often this girl back down from an argument, because it obviously wasn't very often. Then again, if she was only arguing with the eleven year old who had a crush on her, there wasn't much of a challenge.

Booth finished the dishes and joined his cousin and Mattie, who were watching the movie he had predicted. He plopped down on the couch next to Jett, Mattie on the other side of the couch. About an hour and a half later, the ending credits began rolling up the screen, and Booth looked away from the television for the first time. Jett was asleep, his head thrown backwards so it rested on the top of the couch, and Mattie had pulled her legs under her and was propping her head up with her hand. The oldest of three smiled.

Booth got off the couch, being careful not to disturb those sleeping and grabbed another movie that was appropriate for the child in the room. He settled on Hook starring Robin Williams. He hadn't seen it, but had heard that it was supposed to be pretty good. About five minutes after he sat back down, he heard stirring from the other end of the couch. Mattie rubbed her eyes and looked at the screen in front of her.

"This isn't the same movie, is it?"

"Nah, I switched it out for Hook. You ever seen Peter Pan?"

"Yes. And Hook. I have watched movies before, Booth. Just not very recently."

"Hey, you're the one who had never heard of Jim Carrey."

"Can you stop bickering?" a small complaint came from between them. "I don't know what the problem is, and I really don't care."

"You're awake from you nap at least. Less trouble I'll have getting you to bed tonight."

"I don't have a bed time, Seeley. I'm eleven, and it's summer."

"Jett, you're parents told me to make sure you were in bed by eleven every night, at the absolute latest." Booth looked at his cousin who apparently was a pretty good liar. Jett was attempting to use his charm smile to make his cousin and babysitter forget his lie; it didn't work.

"So, what movie are we watching?" he said changing the subject when he realized the smile wasn't to the trick.

"Hook."

"Score! That movie's awesome." He focused all his attention on the screen. Booth and Mattie exchanged a look of amusement before doing the same as the boy. They spent the rest of the scorching day inside watching movies.


	6. Distracting

The next day, Booth woke up to his alarm at seven- forty-five. He wasn't going to have Mattie's incessant knocking wake him up again. Booth was already dressed and brushing his teeth when he remembered his dream the previous night. It was a weird dream:

_Booth stood in a dress uniform, holding a rifle. The dream he was looking for someone with about five other people dressed exactly like him. He thought it was weird that he was at a funeral dress as such, but figured odd stuff happened in dreams. He didn't really pay too much attention to the words; he was more focused on a group of people. They had their back to him, but he felt a weird connection to them. He sat there watching them and the service when he realized that the memorial service was for a fallen soldier. That's why he was here, for ritual reasons._

_The woman from the park was up in front of the casket talking about someone, Booth hadn't caught the name of the fallen man, but whoever it was had gained her respect. And according to her that was hard to do. She made a comment about how the man had died protecting someone he loved, when one of the people in front of him muttered something about taking the bullet them self. _

_Out of nowhere, another man appeared. The sniper watched as the placed a flower on top of the casket; it infuriated him for some reason. Booth had a sudden reaction and began running towards the man and the casket. He cut through two guys who both looked pretty young, and that started a small commotion. The suspicious guy looked up, but before he could do anything, Booth grabbed his shirt. Of course, the guy took the first swing at him. Next thing Booth knew they were fighting on the ground. The guy got a few good punches to Booth's jaw, but the soldier hit him right back. Once the guy was overtop of Booth he kicked him, sending him flying. A blonde woman from the mystery group came and hit the man with a branch or something that Booth couldn't really see, sending the mystery man down for good. Booth stood up and looked at her. His next sentence flew out of his mouth before he could register who was in front of him, "Nice shot, Mattie."_

That's when his alarm had gone off. He had no idea why he had incorporated the blonde teenager into his dream, but thought it might have something to do with the relationship that they had crafted the day before. (Though, that didn't explain the woman from the park.) Still, he wasn't sure that Mattie would be able to defend herself in a fight like that, let alone watch his back too.

It was more surprising though, that it had been a dream with no base in reality. Every dream for the past few weeks had been based off of his memories from serving his country- except this one. He was thrilled not to have bullets flying at him or someone he knew dying in front of him, and he wondered if spending the day back in the real world had been what made them go away. He had been afraid he would come back from the war like his father did: angry and looking for someone to take it out on. But he had no temptation to harm a single person yesterday; it was that moment he knew he would be able to adjust back to civilian life.

He went to the kitchen and started making some coffee when he noticed the clock read eight o'clock. He thought Mattie seemed to be the time to always be early and never late, but then again, she could have just arrived early yesterday. When his coffee was done, he went into the den and watched some TV.

He heard Jett beginning to move and checked his watch. Eight- thirty. Booth just assumed that she had been early yesterday, but he'd check with his little cousin. About fifteen minutes later, Jett came out dressed in shorts and a red polo. The first thing Jett said was "Where's Mattie?"

"I don't know. What time does she usually get here?"

"Eight. What time is it?"

"Quarter 'til nine," Booth answered, a concerned tone on the edge of his voice. He was starting to worry now. "Is she usually late?"

"She's never been late before or missed a day. She's accidentally come on Saturdays and Sundays before though."

"Is there a number to call her at?"

"No. Mom and Dad have a schedule with her, and they discuss anything weird with her when they get home before she leaves."

"So, there's no contact info for her at all?" Jett shook his head. "Do you know where she lives?"

"No, she won't tell me or Mom or Dad."

"She's really secretive, isn't she?"

"I don't know. I guess."

"Maybe she didn't hear her alarm this morning."

"I guess," Jett repeated. Neither was convinced by Booth's words.

Booth went to make Jett some breakfast, and when he returned with a Pop-Tart and apple juice Jett thanked him before focusing back on the screen.

"Hey, Seeley, can we go see a movie today?" Booth wondered if he was trying to get his mind of the missing babysitter.

"Maybe." He didn't want Mattie to show up late for some reason and the house to be empty. "What movie do you want to see?"

"Batman Forever." Booth had seen the previews for that. "Would your parents let you?"

"Yes." Booth then remembered how Jett's parents also 'didn't give him a bedtime'.

"Okay, let me call them-"

"You really don't have to…" Booth looked at his cousin with the 'I- know- you're- lying- to- me' face.

"So, anything else you want to see they _would_ let you?"

"Apollo 13?" Booth nodded in agreement.

Booth and Jett watched TV for a little while longer, but around noon both stomachs began to growl. Booth fixed some pizza for them, and made Jett sit in the kitchen to eat. Jett ate quietly, but Booth noticed he was sneaking glances towards the front door.

"You worried?"

"Huh?" The eleven year old almost jumped out of his seat at his cousin's voice.

"Are you worried about Mattie?"

"A little."

"I was thinking about where she could be. She probably got sick, and didn't have a way to contact us."

"Oh… That makes sense." Booth smiled, happy to come up with a reason why she didn't come.

After lunch, Booth cleaned up while Jett prepared to go to the movies. When the boy returned, he was practically bouncing off the wall to go to the movies right then. So, Booth called a taxi since he didn't have a car, and went to grab his wallet and things.

A few hours later, they returned from the movie. Booth was a little disappointed to find that there wasn't a note from Mattie, but hid it from his cousin. Jett went to his room and brought out some comic books that Booth hadn't read before. They spent the rest of their day doing that.

Around ten-thirty that night, Jett let out a yawn and got up to go to bed. He was about half way to his room, when he turned to Booth. "I'm still a little worried about Mattie, Seeley."

"She'll be back tomorrow; don't worry about it." Booth wouldn't tell his cousin, but he was still a little worried too.

* * *

**So, what do you guys think?**


	7. The Truth is Out There

Unfortunately, Booth was wrong. Mattie didn't show up the next day, either. Booth was able to calm his cousin's nerves by saying she was probably really sick. He tried to entertain him by taking him to the park, which worked for several hours. Then they went back home and read comic books and watched TV for a few hours.

Booth decided that if she didn't show up on the third day, he was going to go house to house looking for her or call the cops, because he didn't know how much longer Jett could handle not knowing where she was. Booth knew that she had been hiding something from him the one day he had been around her, and wondered if that had anything to do with her disappearing act.

He got up on the fourth day in Chicago and turned off his alarm. He tried to focus, but his mind kept pulling him back to the dream he had been having. It was another weird dream that the babysitter had been in. Booth tried to focus on the images his mind and could only come up with a warehouse, a scared, tied up Mattie, and then her arms wrapped around his neck even though her hands were still bound together. Oh, and a lot of pain on his part for some reason. Booth shook his head. He hoped that he never saw that happen to anyone, again, especially someone he knew from outside the military, like the innocent babysitter.

He was brushing his teeth when he heard a knock at the front door. He immediately went to the door, glancing at the clock as he passed it. Five 'til eight.

He opened the door to see Mattie standing there. She still wore that jean jacket, but she was wearing some high school t-shirt that looked just as big as the Northwestern shirt and jean capris. He thought she looked paler, and, if possible, even more sickly skinny. She looked tired, and faded. Her brown eyes had lost the fierceness they had when they had first met.

"Hello, Booth." She greeted him like nothing had changed.

"Mattie, where have you been?"

"My foster house."

"Are you okay?"

"Don't worry about it, Booth. I can take care of myself." She entered the house, brushing right past him. Booth couldn't believe it; she had disappeared for two days, without a word to him or Jett. And now she wanted to pretend like it everything was fine. With all these weird dreams about her, Booth was a lot more protective of her. No matter how weird or irrational it was.

"I've been guessing where you were for two days to try and calm Jett down, and know you're telling me _not_ to worry about it. I hate to break it to you, but that's not going to happen." Booth noticed that his voice was rising, and he really didn't care.

Mattie looked towards Jett's door, and went to close. The moment it was completely shut, she turned to Booth and almost hissed, "You need to keep your voice down or you'll wake Jett." She began walking towards the kitchen.

"Mattie, you better have a good reason for not showing up, because the moment he sees you he's going to ask you where you were."

"And I'll tell him I had some family issues."

"See, but you already told me you were in the foster system," Booth pointed out, blocking her path.

"I do have a foster _family_," she tried to walk past him. He wasn't going to let her do that again. He grabbed her upper arm, and immediately heard a small whimper escape her lips. He released his grasp, and saw her un-scrunch her face. Booth knew he hadn't used enough gripped her hard enough to hurt her, unless…

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, you just grabbed me and I wasn't expecting it."

"You whimpered, Mattie, and I didn't grab you that hard."

"Booth, I already told you not to worry about it."

"And _I_ already told you that wasn't going to happen."

Brown met brown, both eyes showing determination. Booth knew that he wasn't going to give up; he was worried about the girl. Mattie finally sighed. She pushed a blonde lock of hair out of her face. "Why do you care so much? I barely know you."

"Because, you're special to my cousin, and I hate seeing people in trouble."

"You'll do well in law enforcement."

Booth gave her a half smile. "We'll see. So, are you going to tell me?"

She gave a small nod. "But, if Jett comes out, then the conversation ends. He doesn't need to know about this."

"Fine."

Mattie removed her jacket for the first time since Booth met her, and what he saw pissed him off. She had bruising up and down both of her arms; some were beginning to fade, but others looked new. He recognized the type of marks, too. They were similar to the ones that his father had inflicted on him and Jared when they were kid.

"They beat you?" he finally managed to asked.

"They gave me warning. I stayed out too late; it was my fault-"

"No. Nothing you could have possibly done gives them a right to hurt you like that. And I'm betting the marks aren't just on your arms, are they?" She shook her head, and lifted her shirt, showing several more bruises scattered across her stomach. Booth wanted to do something to help her, but didn't know what to do. He finally went towards the phone.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm calling the cops."

"What? You can't!"

"Mattie, they're beating you! I'm not just going to sit here and do nothing."

"Booth, I'm handling the situation. I stay out of the house during the day. And Larry usually has the night shift, so it's not that bad when I go back." Booth picked up the phone, anyway. We was about to start dialing when Mattie grabbed the phone out of his hands. "Booth, please. I don't want to be moved to another house where things could be worse."

"Worse than beating you?"

"I've heard of some of the houses other foster kids have been to. It can be a lot worse. I have two more months and then I'm out of the system for good. I don't want to deal with a living hell, when I can handle a nightmare instead. Plus, I don't want to leave Jett. Your cousin and aunt and uncle are the closest thing I've to a family in two years; they've reminded me that good people do exist. _You've_ reminded of that." Booth sighed. He wasn't going to win this conversation, and he knew it.

"Fine. But, I don't like it."

"I didn't expect you to."

"Just answer one more question for me. How often do they do this?" Booth motioned to her arms.

"Depends. At first, it was a night when Larry got drunk, about a week after I got there. By mid- June, it was whenever we were both awake and at the house. Usually, it's just a slap on the face, but if I ever misbehave or an accident happens, then I take a more severe beating."

"What happened two nights ago?" Booth knew her disappearance was linked to the abuse.

"They ordered me to clean up after dinner, and I ended up making more of a mess. I was going to clean it up, but they decided I should be punished instead."

"You didn't want Jett seeing you that badly hurt." She shook her head. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"No. I-" Booth placed his hand over her mouth to stop her from talking, and picked up her jacket and handed it to her. He had seen a door open. He walked to the other side of her to block a possible bruise sighting.

When they heard the bathroom door closed, and Booth removed his hand from her mouth. She quickly slid on her jacket, and turned back towards to kitchen and began making Jett breakfast. Booth went and sat down at the table, watching Mattie prepare his cousin's breakfast as she did three days ago.

"Booth," Mattie said quietly as she poured the juice, "thank you."

He simply nodded. Whether she liked it or not, he was going to find a way to help her. She was going to be the first one on the good side of the cosmic balance list.


	8. Unfortunate Discovery

To say Jett was excited to see Mattie would be one of the worst understatements of the decade. He started jumping up and down and ran up and gave her a hug. And as Booth predicted, the first question he asked was where she had been.

"I had a family problem."

"Seeley, you were wrong! She wasn't sick."

"I heard, bub. I'm happy she wasn't sick."

"Me too! So, what are we going to do today?"

"Whatever you want to," Mattie answered.

"I want to go swimming!" Booth caught Mattie's eye, and saw her hesitation.

"I think it's supposed to rain today. Maybe tomorrow," Booth answered.

"Again? It already rained once this week."

"The weather doesn't have a pattern. It's random."

"That's not true, Booth-"

"Mattie, you have to admit no one knows one hundred percent what the weather will do."

"Yes, but statistics can determine a general climate a season."

"But it's never going to be right all the time or on a daily basis."

"I never said it would."

"But you implied it."

"Why are you two fighting about the weather? If it's going to rain, then we'll just go when it isn't. It's not _that_ big of a deal," Jett grabbed his food and drink and went towards the den.

"We weren't fighting." Booth smirked at Mattie's comment.

"I think we were discussing our different opinions on how predictable weather is. Which is the same thing to an eleven year old."

Mattie shrugged before asking, "Is it really supposed to rain?"

"I think so. I don't know though. I gave a reason why it might not. But it is cloudy out." The girl just nodded. "So what are we going to do with him today?"

"I'll offer to take him to the park. It's closer, so we can just take umbrellas and it will work out."

"I might skip out on the park, if that's okay with you. I'm use to running, and I haven't had the chance since I got back to the states."

"I shouldn't have assumed you were going to the park without asking. And you don't need my permission."

"Well, I didn't know if you were able to handle him because of… you know."

"It's not the first time it's happened Booth. And usually I come over the next day."

"Okay, well, I might come to the park after my run- if you don't mind me being sweaty."

"I doubt either of us will mind." Booth smiled and nodded.

He went into his temporary room, and changed into running shorts and a white undershirt. It was what he usually wore when he exercised on base, and what he thought he'd be most comfortable in. He slipped on some white socks and slid on his tennis shoes.

He went back in to the room where Mattie and Jett were watching some Discovery Channel show. He still couldn't believe his cousin was watching that station instead of ESPN or something. "Hey, I'm going for a run, I'll see you guys later."

Jett and Mattie both looked towards him. "See you later, Seel."

"H-have a good run," Mattie stumbled, and Booth noticed that her eyes weren't directed towards his face. He also saw her face going a little red.

"Thanks. Have fun at the park." Jett threw up a hand as a wave, and Mattie said bye again.

Booth was outside, when he realized he had no idea how to get around the neighborhood. He ended up running towards west, so that the sun wouldn't be in his eyes as much. He ran about three blocks straight before turning south. He ran about four blocks that direction before heading east for three blocks and north another three. He figured he could continue this loop until he was ready to go to the park, and then he could get there from his cousin's house, which was only a block out of his running route.

He had been running for a while; he didn't know how long it had been, but that he had completed about four of his laps. He debated about going on one more lap, and decided it wouldn't hurt. He was head north, back towards Jett's house when he heard yelling come from up ahead.

"Where is that bitch?"

"How should I know? You were awake before I was."

"Kirra, I told her she was your responsibility! You're the one who wanted to get her."

"Hell, I thought the money would be worth it. Plus, she cleans after us."

"That only works when she's home, you moron!"

Booth slowed down to a jog when heard the argument. They were a couple standing in their front yard; the twenty-two year old didn't think they really fit into the neighborhood. In fact, he was sure they didn't. The house behind them had an overgrown garden and grass that looked like it should have been cut a week ago, while the neighbors on either side had well maintained yards. The man in front of the house was about six foot and maybe weighted two hundred pounds. His hairline had begun to receded, but the greasy, medium brown hair was still covering his head. His wife was about one- eighty and around five-three. Her frizzy, curly hair was somewhat lighter than her husband's. They were definitely a lot rougher than Booth would have expected to find in this neighborhood.

"Well, where the hell would she have run off too? She's been here a month and hides in her room all day."

"Except when she goes on those weird night walk-run thingies we've got her sneaking back from."

"We've got to find her. Damn social worker's going to be here in a few hours, Larry, and if we don't know where she is, then we're screwed!" Booth suddenly knew who these people were. He couldn't believe they had the guts to talk like that when people were out on the street. They obviously did care about Mattie any more they would a speck of dirty. Booth didn't realize, however, that he had managed to stop directly in front of the horrible couple. Kirra noticed him first. "What do you want?"


	9. Fights and Explanations

_Kirra noticed him first. "What do you want?"_

* * *

Booth froze. He didn't mean to make it so obvious he was eavesdropping. "Sorry, I heard your conversation. Did you lose a puppy or something?" he asked walking towards them. The way they were describing Mattie made her sound more like an animal then teenager.

"No, we lost our foster kid," Larry answered. Booth became very aware that he had been drinking sometime that morning; the stench still remained on his breathe.

"How old? I might have seen them when I was running." Booth fought to keep his voice even, but that proving to be challenging.

"Seventeen year old girl."

"What's her name?"

"Matilda."

"Don't be stupid, Larry; her name is Mattea."

"Now who's being stupid? It ends with a 'e' sound, not and 'a'."

"You said her name was Matilda!"

"Yeah, but she doesn't go by the whole damn thing."

"Mattie?" Booth cut in. Both foster parents turned to him.

"That's it. You know her?"

"What type of people can't remember the name of the girl who's been living with them for over a month?" Booth asked ignoring the question.

"She doesn't talk much," the woman defended.

"Doesn't matter! She's been living with you for a month! Then again, what type of people beat a girl who they're supposed to look after?" That caught both the 'parents' attention.

"Hey, who are you to question our parent techniques?"

"You _beat_ her! How can that possibly be a good thing?"

"She doesn't listen otherwise," Larry answered. Booth couldn't hold back the anger that had been building in him since he identified these people. He punched Larry square in the jaw. Kirra let a small scream escape her lips.

Larry fell to the ground, but immediately stood back up. "You shouldn't have done that, punk."

"You might be good at beating a teenage girl, but there's no way you can take me."

"And what makes you so special?"

"I'm an Army Ranger. Spent the last four years serving my country." Larry obviously didn't think much about it, because he went up and attempted to attack Booth. The soldier quickly defended himself against the assault , and got a quick punch to the stomach. Kirra decided it would be a good idea to join in on the fight. So, while her husband was trying to breathe again and Booth's attention was focused there, she went up behind Booth and kicked him in the back. He faltered a little; he still hadn't fully recovered from the torture he sustained while he was captured in the dessert. It was enough time for Larry to get back up and punch him in the nose. Booth ignored the pain that ran through his face, and got another couple of punches that affected Larry's breathing. Booth quickly turned around to find Kirra trying to repeat the attack on his back. Booth caught her leg, but refused to actual cause her injury. He had never hit a woman, and never planned on it- though she was tempting him. When she started to lose her balance, Booth gave her the leg back before bolting across the yard.

"Hopefully, Larry, you have some idea of how much you've hurt Mattie. If I find out that you lay another finger on her, I will come back but I won't stop after beating your ass. I used self control this time, next time you won't be so lucky."

Booth ran the long way back to Jett's house, just in case the two decided to call the cops on him. (Though explaining why their foster daughter was black and blue would be an interesting challenge for them.) Once Booth turned onto the street, he slowed to a jog; and once in the driveway, it became a walk. He hoped that Mattie had already taken Jett to the park. Booth wiped some sweat off his face with his arm, and noticed that there was some blood mixed in with it. He checked the only place Larry had been able to hit him, and found that it was his nose was letting blood flow out of it like a river. All the more reason for no one to be home.

He tried the door, hoping to find it locked, but he was easily able to enter the house. He heard someone in the kitchen, and someone in Jett's room. He hoped that he could sneak into the bathroom without being seen. He was about half way there, when Mattie turned around in the kitchen and saw his back.

"Booth, how was your run?" He froze in place, hoping Jett wouldn't come out right now.

"Good, I'm going to take a quick shower and then I'll join you at the park."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You sound different."

"How?"

"If I were to guess, I'd hypothesis your nose was stopped up; but considering you sounded fine this morning, that's fairly unlikely."

"Huh. I wonder why. Maybe it's the pollen in the air."

"Why aren't you facing me?" she asked rather suddenly and bluntly.

"No reason."

"Booth…" she walked around to his front and saw the bloody nose and what had come off his face and fallen onto his shirt. "What happened?" She asked running to get paper towels from the kitchen. She ran them under cool water as he answered.

"Nothing, Mattie. Don't worry about it."

"You're covered in blood. What happened?"

"I got into a fight. You should see the other guy."

"Who is he?"

"No one you know."

"Then why did you tell me to see him?" Booth laughed once he realized she was serious.

"It's a saying, Mattie. But seriously, I'm fine. This is nothing compared to what I've gotten playing hockey."

"This is a safe neighborhood, Booth," Mattie returned to the point as she approached him with the paper towels. "Most people don't just start fights unless provoked. So I want to know at least where this person lives, so I can avoid taking Jett around them."

"I don't know the street names," Booth lied. Luckily, Mattie didn't even notice. Actually she pulled out two kitchen chairs facing each other and motioned for him to sit. Booth complied.

"So do you randomly fight strangers?"

"No, just jackasses."

"So you have a relationship with this person?" she asked as she sat across from him.

"Please, can we not talk about this?"

"You told me earlier I didn't have a say about you worrying about me. I don't see why you get to have one about me worrying about you. And this might hurt a little," she added holding the paper towel to his nose with some pressure.

"Ow!" he whimpered. "Because I can take care of myself."

"And I can't?" Booth suddenly realized the stupidity of his words. Mattie might not protect herself up to Booth's liking, but she wasn't dead either.

"All I'm saying is that I was in the army, I can beat up like that drunken idiot." Mattie looked up into Booth's brown ones. With the glint in her eye, he knew she had figured out what happened.

She pulled the towel away and looked him in the eye before asking, "He did this to you?"

"Who?" Booth played dumb.

"My foster dad, Larry." Booth knew he couldn't lie to her about this anymore. She needed to be able to trust someone, and he wanted it to be that person.

"Yeah. Oh, and by the way, if you want to stick around, you're going to want to head back to that hellhole. Your social worker is coming by today."

"No one told me that."

"Yeah, well they were complaining how they couldn't find you and your social worker would be there in the next few hours. And they needed you there so they could keep on getting that check." Maybe they never said those exact words, but it was obvious.

"I'll go back after lunch… How did Larry even get a chance to hit you? He's not very quick. He usually corners me."

"Kirra hit me on my back- when I wasn't expecting it. I only made that mistake once. But look, I really don't want Jett seeing me like this; so if you let me take a shower," he said, looking towards Jett's door before standing up. But Mattie caught his wrist.

"After you answer one more question. Why did you go picking a fight with my foster parents?"

"Look at your arms and you've got your answer," he replied before pulling away from her grip and heading towards the bathroom.

* * *

**So, what did everyone think? I'm slightly superstitious, so having 13 reviews is kind of bothering me... So please review.**


	10. Missing Kids and Hospitals

When Booth left the bathroom, he was carrying his clothes and had a towel wrapped around his torso. It had taken longer than he expected to get all the blood off his face. Booth had been surprised that he didn't have any obvious marks from his fight earlier. He didn't see or hear Mattie or Jett in the house, so he assumed they had gone to the park. He went back to his room and put a pair of long, jean shorts and a black shirt. He found another pair of clean socks, but these had little hockey pucks all over them versus the white he had been wearing. He slipped his tennis shows on, and was about to head out the door to go to the park when the phone rang. He debated about just letting the answering machine pick up, but decided he might as well pick it up.

"Griffen residence."

"Hi, is Mr. Seeley Booth there?"

"Yeah. This is him." That was weird, because no one called him _mister_ or really knew he was here.

"I'm calling from Methodist Hospital. We just had to pick up a boy from a local park, and his babysitter asked for us to call you and two other numbers." Booth's heart sunk.

"Are you calling about Jett?"

"Yes, Jethro Griffen had to come in."

"Is he alright?" Booth was beginning to panic; this was his eleven year old they were talking about.

"He's doing okay. He broke his arm at the park. I'm not positive about the details; you'll have to ask the babysitter."

"I'll be there as soon as I can." Booth immediately called the taxi company and had them pick him up and drive to the hospital. All that could go through Booth's mind was how his cousin could have broken his arm. Jett wasn't one to do stupid stuff, and Mattie would stop him if he tried. Wouldn't she?

Booth felt like the taxi was going way to slow. But when he finally arrived at the hospital, he paid the cabbie and ran inside. He asked the nurse at the front desk where Jett was. From there, he bolted to the second floor. He was relieved when he saw Mattie sitting there.

"Mattie!" she turned and saw him.

"I'm sorry, Booth. I'm so sorry." Booth thought he saw a single tear fell, but Mattie wiped it away before Booth had a chance to be sure.

"What happened?"

"I stopped paying attention for a minute at most, and then I couldn't find him. I looked for fifteen minutes when I saw him playing tackle football with some people. They looked like they were fifteen or so, but they were surrounding him. And he was sitting on the ground cradling his arm. Booth, I've only felt this guilty one other thing in my life. I'm sorry. I swear I only looked away for a minute."

"You let my _eleven_ year old cousin go play _tackle_ football with _fifteen_ year olds! Do you realize how stupid that is? I thought you were smart, Mattie. Or maybe you can only focus on school! Because if you're certainly don't care enough people who think of as family! You told me that Jett and Aunt Tia and Uncle Elliot where like family to you, but you couldn't focus on Jett long enough to make sure that he doesn't get killed by a few fifteen year olds! What made you think you were good with kids? Because from where I'm standing right now, you can't even watch one for a few weeks during the day."

"Booth… I'm sorry." Mattie's eyes were filling with tears, but Booth didn't care right then.

"Where's Jett?"

"In the ER getting his arm fixed," she said quietly, not daring to look him the eye. "They won't let anyone besides his parents back there."

Booth groaned. "When will they be here?"

"They're both on the next flight back to Chicago. He'll probably be done before they get back."

An awkward silence filled the air between them. After about ten minutes, a girl who had been sitting in the waiting room approached Booth, looking a little afraid.

"Yeah?" Booth asked her, still tense and irritated.

"I heard that lady call you 'Booth'. In school we're learning about President Lincoln. The guy who killed him was name was Booth. Are you related to him?"

"Marie! That's not very polite," her mother scolded from across the room.

"It's fine," Booth answered. "Yeah, he's my great-great-great-grandfather."

"Do you like our country?"

"Marie!" The mother was clearly not happy with her daughter's line of questions.

"Yeah; I love this country, and I like the president, and every type of person who lives here, except the really bad people." The girl seemed satisfied with the answer and went to sit next to her mother again who immediately began explaining why you don't ask people questions like that.

"I didn't know that," Mattie told Booth after a minute.

"Yeah, well, it's not something I publicize a lot," he answered trying to end the conversation, which he succeeded at.

They fell back into the awkward silence. Booth began to focus on the television. They had the twelve o'clock news on at the moment and Booth found it calmly distracting, though he had to read the close captions to find out what they were talking about. It made it temporarily forget where he was and why. There was nothing very exciting. They talked about big trial in DC; some brilliant lawyer, Heather Taffy or something had convinced whoever was on trial. There was talk about how to keep kids from overheating. After the commercial, the anchorman came back. _"We have some breaking news. There is a missing teenager in the area. Her name is Mattie Johnston."_ A picture of the babysitter appeared next to anchor. _"She was reported missing by her social worker…"_

"Mattie," Booth grumbled.

"I see," she sighed. "I guess I should go find a doctor and call the local authorities." She stood up, and went to the desk in the room with nurses. A few minutes later, Mattie was being pulled into the back to have a physical. She looked at Booth, sadness and remorse filling her eyes as she went towards the back.

This made Booth start thinking about what he had said to her. He knew it wasn't her fault. He wouldn't be able to keep his eye on Jett constantly; he shouldn't expect anyone else to do so. And the comment about her not being able to watch Jett was way inappropriate.

About an hour later, Jett came out of the ER with his arms in a cast. Booth stood up and rushed to him.

"Jett, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I broke my arm. I tackled the kid though."

"What were you thinking trying to play with a bunch of fifteen year olds?"

"Griffens never back away from a challenge," he answered proudly; Booth just rolled his eyes.

"Okay, well, you aren't allowed to play football, any more, bub. You're parents won't let you. At least not for a week or so _after _your cast comes off."

"How do you know?"

"Because that's what I would do if I was them." Jett groaned. "We've got to wait for your parents to get here to give insurance information."

"Okay," the kid answered, sitting next to his cousin. "Where's Mattie?"

Booth hadn't even thought about how to explain where she went to the eleven year old. Aunt Tia and Uncle Elliot, yeah; they had a right to know that they're babysitter needed a reason to stay out of her foster home. But an eleven year old boy who practically worshiped the ground she walked on, not so much.

"Mattie had to go home. Her parents were worried about her, and they had some family stuff she forgot about."

"When will she be back?"

"I don't know, bub; I don't know."

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**Okay, so theres one more chapter left. I'm thinking about doing a sequel about what would happen if Mattie got caught up in a murder case... would anyone be interested in reading that?**


	11. She'll Do Great

**Hey, sorry I'm a few days late with this. School's been tough this week, and band takes up a lot of time, too. This is the final chapter of this story.**

**Also, I'd like to dedicate it to all those who lost their life or a loved one nine years ago due to the terrorist attack.**

**Anyway, here is the story...**

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Elliot, Jett's father, arrived at the hospital about an hour and a half later, and his mother two hours after that at their house. They had done as Booth predicted and banned their son from playing football for a while. Since Jett's arm still hurt, his parents gave him pain medication he went to his room and fell asleep. The moment the door shut, Booth told his aunt and uncle everything he had learned in the past four days. Tia and Elliot told Booth that they would let Mattie stay with them whenever she needed to, even if it meant every night until she left for Northwestern.

Tia volunteered to cook dinner, since her husband and she hadn't had a home cook meal. Booth and Elliot both offered to help, but she was insistent about doing this alone. Elliot went to unpack, and Booth settled back and watched the five o'clock news.

"_Welcome to the five o'clock news. I'm your anchor Darren Quincy. This afternoon we reported that a seventeen year old girl, Mattie Johnston, was missing. Minutes after we reported the missing girl, she called the local authorities. She was at the hospital, accompanying a child she was babysitting who had broken his arm. However, the doctors gave Johnston a physical, and found suspicious bruises. Johnston was already in the foster system, for reasons that were not disclosed to us, so her social workers have removed her from the home in question. Her foster parents, Larry and Kirra Jordan, are currently be held for abuse of a minor and several other charges, and the DA believes there is enough evidence to indict and convict. In other news…_" Booth pressed the mute button. Mattie had actually gotten out of that hellhole. She had gotten out of there in one piece and alive. And with her case being on the news, good people would be lining up to volunteer to take her; especially if they found out she was planning on going to college in two months.

And best of all, the bastards who had harmed her were going to pay. No one like child abusers, and once anyone saw the bruises on her those two would be thrown in jail.

Booth knew he hadn't done anything, but couldn't help but to be proud. He was proud of Mattie for finally telling someone what the Jordans were doing to her.

He got up and went to the kitchen where he found Tia cooking spaghetti and meatballs. "Aunt Tia," Booth started.

"Something bothering you, Seeley?"

"I was just watching the news. You know how I told you about social services using media to find Mattie this afternoon?"

"Yes. Did they do a follow up on her just now?"

"Yeah, her foster parents are in custody and she's back with social services. You're going to have to explain to Jett she's not coming back."

"I'll do it when he's feeling better," she agreed. "I'm just happy Mattie's out of that dreadful house. I'm happy you got her to open up to you, Seeley, I really am."

"Yeah, so am I. I just wished I hadn't acted like such an a-a-absolute jerk to her this afternoon." Booth hoped his aunt wouldn't catch onto his slip up. Like his mother, his aunt disliked cussing in her home.

"Nice save," his aunt answered coyly. "What did you do to her?"

"I kinda blamed her for Jett's arm. I was just mad, and she was the first person I saw that I knew. It was stupid and I'll never be able to tell her what idiot I was."

"You liked her a lot for knowing her for about a day and a half."

"Yeah, I did. She's a good kid who's gotten the worse life can throw at you."

"You haven't exactly had an easy life, either, Seeley."

"Yeah, but me and Jared had family to turn to. She went into a system that was supposed to protect her, but instead she gets hurt. She was in that house for a little over a month and was beat because she was a normal teenager."

Tia stopped cooking for a minute, and went over to her nephew before giving him a hug. "You're a good man, Seeley Booth."

"Thanks, Aunt Tia."

A moment later, Booth thought he heard bullets flying. But it was only a knock at the door. He left his aunt's embrace and went to answer the door. When he opened it, a dark haired, brown eyes woman in a black suit stood in front of him.

"May I help you?"

"I'm looking for a Seeley Booth and a Jett Griffen."

"I'm Seeley Booth. Jett's my cousin. He's sleeping off some pain pills right now. He broke his arm this morning; can I do something for you?"

"I'm the prosecutor of Mr. and Mrs. Jordan, Emily McClung. I was speaking with their foster daughter, Ms…." The prosecutor stopped, trying to remember the girl's name.

"Johnston. Mattie Johnston." Booth didn't know how much confidence he had in a lawyer who couldn't remember the victim's name.

"Yes, and she asked me to give these to you two." She held out two envelopes, one with 'Booth' in neat cursive, the other saying 'Jett' in the same writing.

"Thank you, Ms. McClung," he said, taking the letters from her. She nodded and walked away, leaving Booth to close the door behind her.

Once he was inside, Tia called out to him, "Who was at the door?"

"Mattie's lawyer. She had letters for Jett and me."

"Who do they say?"

"I don't know I haven't opened mine." He laid Jett's down and began to open his. The first thing he saw was the same writing that spelled out his name on the front.

_Dear Booth,_

_I wanted to know how truly sorry I am for not paying closer attention to Jett. I should have been more focused on him, but I was already feeling guilty about the fight you had with Larry. I was worrying about you, and let it interfere with my job. I promise you, though you have no way of knowing that I will keep my word, that I will never let my feelings impede my responsibilities again._

_I also wish to thank you. I know we did not know each other very long, but you reminded me that people can care about you for being you. You had no need to worry about me, but you did anyway. And if you hadn't fought with Larry and Kirra then I probably would have paid more attention to Jett- no, Booth, I'm not blaming, just informing you of the likely scenario. If Jett had not broken his arm, then I would have gone back for the meeting with my social worker, and then there would have been not investigation of my short disappearance and I would still be in that nightmare of a house._

_In short, Booth, I want to thank you. You're the first person I have perceived as an equal who I consider my friend since I lost my parents. You will do extremely well in law enforcement, and the FBI would be lucky to have you. If I have learned anything about you, it is that you will try and find me again for one reason or another. Please, don't. You have helped give me the confidence to face what life has thrown at me, and know everything will be fine. Again, thank you._

_Sincerely,_

_Mattie Christine Johnston_

Booth looked up from his letter. When Tia noticed she asked again, "What did she say?"

"She said thank you..."

"So will she be alright?"

"Yeah. She's smart and focused and won't easily take the hard things life gives her. She'll do great."

_**The End**_

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**_**So, that's the end. What did everyone think? And I'm still debating about a sequel if you want to have a say...**


	12. Author's Note

**Hey everyone! I've been working on the sequel to this, where Mattie and her foster parent's name come up in a case. I'll be posting it in the next few days. It will probably be called_ Secrets in the Past_, but I'm still not positive... Anyway, I thought you would like to know. :)**


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